1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fuel supply apparatus in an outboard engine which supplies a fuel within a fuel tank into a vapor separator by a low pressure fuel pump, increases a pressure of the fuel with a fixed fuel liquid surface stored within the vapor separator by a high pressure fuel pump, and supplies the fuel having the increased high pressure to an engine via a fuel injection valve attached to a fuel distributing pipe, and more particularly to a filter which removes foreign materials contained in the fuel discharged from the high pressure fuel pump.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In conventional, the filter which removes the foreign materials contained in the fuel discharged from the high pressure fuel pump is structured such that a filter in which a filter member is received and arranged within a filter case is independently prepared, and the filter is arranged within a fuel piping which connects a pump discharge passage of the high pressure fuel pump with the fuel distributing pipe.
Further, the filter is structured such that a filter case constituted by an upper case and a lower case being firmly coupled and fixed in accordance with caulking, welding or the like, a filter member is received and arranged within a space portion of the filter case formed thereby, and pipes corresponding to fuel passages open to the interior of the space portion are integrally formed with the upper case and the lower case.
In accordance with the fuel supply apparatus using the filter mentioned above, firstly, a freedom of layout design within a cowling of the outboard engine is hindered. Secondly, it is impossible to effectively reduce a manufacturing cost of the fuel supply apparatus. That is, since the filter is independently prepared, and the filter should be received within the cowling surrounding a periphery of the engine in the outboard engine, a special consideration is required for arranging the filter within the narrow cowling.
Further, in placing the filter, it is necessary to mount the filter to a fixed portion of the engine or the like via a mounting member such as a stay or the like, and a consideration is required for arranging the stay.
Further, the filter requires the upper case and the lower case to forming the space portion for receiving the filter member, the number of the parts is increased and an operation for firmly coupling fixing them is required, so that it is impossible to effectively reduce the manufacturing cost.
Further, the filter requires an operation for connecting respective pipes constituting a fuel inlet and a fuel outlet which extend from an end portion of the filter to an interior portion of the fuel piping, and since an assembly operation within the narrow placing space is hard, it is impossible to reduce an assembling man hour.
Further, there is a case that the fuel inlet and the fuel outlet are connected in an erroneous connecting direction at this time, and it is necessary to execute this connecting operation carefully.
Further, since the upper case and the lower case are firmly coupled and fixed, it is significantly hard to execute a maintenance operation of the filter member received inside. Actually, the case is broken and it is impossible to reuse the case.
A fuel supply apparatus in an outboard engine in accordance with the present invention is made by taking the problems mentioned above into consideration, and an object of the present invention is to provide a fuel supply apparatus in an outboard engine which can improve a freedom of layout within a narrow cowling, achieve a reduction of manufacturing cost and improve a maintenance performance of a filter member.
In accordance with a first aspect of the present invention, in order to achieve the object mentioned above, there is provided a fuel supply apparatus in an outboard engine which supplies a fuel within a fuel tank into a vapor separator by a low pressure fuel pump, and increases a pressure of the fuel stored within the vapor separator by a high pressure fuel pump so as to supply to an engine via a fuel injection valve, characterized in that a pump case receiving the high pressure fuel pump is arranged in a side portion of the vapor separator, within which a fixed fuel liquid surface Xxe2x80x94X is formed, a fuel discharge passage connected to a pump discharge passage of the high pressure fuel pump and a filter receiving recess portion connected to the fuel discharge passage are provided in a cover member closing an upper opening of the pump case, and a filter member is detachably arranged in the filter receiving recess portion.
Further, in accordance with a second aspect of the present invention, in addition to the first aspect mentioned above, the filter member is arranged within the filter receiving recess portion so as to be elastically pressed via an elastic member.
Further, in accordance with a third aspect of the present invention, in addition to the first aspect mentioned above, a lead wire of the high pressure fuel pump received within the pump case is extended to the external via the cover member.
In accordance with the first aspect, since the filter receiving recess portion which receives the filter member is integrally formed with the cover member, and the mounting member such as the stay or the like for placing the filter within the cowling is not required, it is possible to improve a freedom of arranging the filter within the cowling. Further, since a part of the case serves commonly as the cover member, and the connection to the fuel piping is unified, it is possible to reduce the number of the parts and it is possible to shorten a connecting operation, whereby it is possible to reduce a manufacturing cost. Further, since the filter member is detachably arranged in the filter receiving recess portion, it is possible to improve a maintenance performance of the filter member.
Further, in accordance with the second aspect, since the filter member is arranged so as to be elastically pressed by the elastic member within the filter receiving recess portion, it is possible to stably support the filter member within the filter receiving recess portion without being bumpy, at a time of operating the engine or the like.
Further, in accordance with the third aspect, since the lead wire is supported by the cover member which closes the upper opening of the pump case, it is possible to arrange a grommet or the like which elastically supports the lead wire in an airtight manner, in this cover member.